


Dr. Rush and the Space Dragon

by Of_Princes_and_Savages



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV), Stargate Universe
Genre: Alien Planet, Anyelle, F/M, May Day Menagerie, dragon!Belle, i have no idea how to tag this, space dragons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-01
Updated: 2017-05-01
Packaged: 2018-10-26 10:21:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,248
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10784904
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Of_Princes_and_Savages/pseuds/Of_Princes_and_Savages
Summary: Rush gets stranded when a big red dragon (and there is no other word for it, itwasa dragon,) burns the star-gate...but he finds an ally in an odd little dragon named Belle.





	Dr. Rush and the Space Dragon

**Author's Note:**

> For **still-searching47** who requested Rushbelle. I hope you enjoy, even though I didn't get up to the smut.

Gaston had driven off the strangely clothed Others. Belle didn't think any of them were badly hurt, but he had melted this strange object Belle had always been a bit curious about. It was a large ring of metal, that had sat in the jungle for longer than the eldest N'desckperoga could remember. Belle thought it had been left behind by whoever had left the writings in her lair, on the mountains and stones.

Today, Gaston had utterly ruined it with his fire. The design on the ring was melting, and melded together. It still glowed with heat when Belle came to inspect it after he left, and it was safe to come out of her hiding place. And she was not alone in thinking it was safe, either.

She heard snapping, footsteps on the ground, breaking twigs that had fallen. Belle turned and found an Other that was small for a grown male, with a silver beard bristling on his face and green and blue clothes. He wasn't just smaller than most Others Belle had seen, his clothing was different, and Belle wondered if he was an offworlder like the ones that had left the writings and this ring.

Forgetting for a moment that most Other were terrified of N'desckperogas advancing on them, Belle padded forward until the male squawked and tried to run away.

 _"Oh wait!"_ Belle trotted after him, ducking branches as she went. _"Come back! I'd like to talk to you please, excuse me, sir?"_

He did not stop running.

He ran out into a meadow, open to the sky, and Belle saw the problem flying overhead before the male did. She sprang across the meadow and grabbed the back of his shirt, lifting him up off his feet before Gaston and his small sidekick, LeFou, crashed down into the grass in front of them.

The Other shrieked.

Gaston threw his head back, shaking out the jet-black crest he was so proud of, the sunlight gleaming off his blood-colored scales and his beady yellow eyes gleaming. Some females thought him handsome, but his great size and his broad jaw, the coldness in his eyes, had made him look cruel to Belle.

 _"What are you playing with there, Belle?"_ he snorted, shaking out his wings. _"Is that all that's left of the Others?"_

LeFou was a short, thickset male almost as tiny as Belle, quite fat with dark scales and a pale pink underbelly, two stubby horns over each eye. He was ugly and dull, clung to Gaston as a twisted means of protection. He was Gaston's underling, and his biggest fan, which meant the larger male always kept him around.

Belle took two steps back, the Other going still in her jaws, perhaps sensing the new creatures were more of a threat than she was. LeFou took a step forwards and sniffed the air with his oddly large snout, and snickered.

_"Smells like fear to me."_

_"Ohhh, don't be afraid Belle,"_ Gaston cooed, moving forwards. _"I'll take care of that nasty little creature before he runs back to his nest."_

Belle growled in warning. Gaston held primitive ideas about the Others. To him, they were insects, pests, something to be rid of. Vermin. Others knew that if the Others were left in peace, they would leave them alone, too. Some even had peaceful trading arrangements. History proved that when N'desckperoga attacked Others, viciously and inprovoked, then the Others would grow afraid and then violent, and attack the N'desckperoga.

That wasn't a problem here...but Belle didn't want this little male to be killed.

So she took the only advantage she had over Gaston and LeFou at the moment: Speed.

Gaston was too big to get off the ground quickly, LeFou's wings weren't quite large enough to get his bulk off the ground and through the air gracefully. But Belle was small, light, and quick. She took another step back, and without warning, (and a quick mental apology to her cargo,) Belle unfurled her wings and leapt into the air. A snap of her wings, air catching in the rosy-pink webbing, and she shot into the sky.

The Other screamed, flailing anew until he went very quiet and limp as Belle leveled out and hurled forwards. She heard Gaston bellowing behind her, and flapped faster to reach the thickly-forested mountains she was closing in on. There was a series of tall rock towers and trees spiraling up from the ground, creating a maze that was too difficult for Gaston to squeeze through. She knew that from experience...

* * *

Rush's head was fuzzy, but he was pretty sure he didn't hit it. Maybe he'd just worked another seventy-two hour shift and ended up slumped over a console...

_Except..._

Did that mean he had been dreaming about dragons?

Rush found himself laying on a pile of something soft. It was too uneven to be a mattress, but his body sank into it, and it had that warm, comfortable quality that immediately let Rush know he wasn't on Destiny's thin firm beds. Or the sickbay cots.

(Sometimes if he worked himself into a little nosebleed as well as a blackout, Eli would panick and have someone drag him to TJ...so he was intimiately familiar with the sickbay cots, too.)

He opened his eyes, finding wherever he was to be extremely dark. The only light came from outside the chamber, a watery blue glow that wasn't very helpful from here. Groping out around him, he deduced he was laying on a pile of cushions and fabric. Like a large, unmade bed. Very large actually, he corrected himself as he crawled out and found his feet on solid ground. And he was barefoot, because he tripped over his boots.

"Fucking hell..."

Shoving the damned things on his feet, Rush shuffled out the chamber. Slowly. The bluish light was making him nervous. Blue was definitely not one of his more favorite colors, considering what happened the last time he was stranded on a planet.

This was not a Nakai ship, though.

For one thing, the earthy smell and the rough stone walls didn't fit a spaceship. He was underground, then. The glow came from a large sort of mushroom, with a tall conical cap and a sprinkling of small offshoots underneath it, emitting a shining blue bioluminescence. Dotted along the cave, in small niches along the way serving as wall sconces, were more mushrooms in the same electrified blue, lighting Rush's way as he slowly wandered around.

The tunnel was very high, perhaps fifteen feet from floor to ceiling. It was just shy of half as wide, creating oval-shaped tunnels lit with blue light. The first "door" Rush came to, when he peered inside, was a chamber filled with a hodgepodge of boxes. Small boxes you could tuck under your arm, huge beasts that would take a team of movers to relocate, rectangular things like a steamer trunk, squat treasure chests...what on earth could be inside them?

The next room Rush came to was empty, except...no it wasn't quite empty, actually.

Carved on the walls of this very large room were dozens and dozens of Ancient symbols and signage. Someone had placed mushrooms along the ceiling in here, and they had spread out to form a chandelier effect, lighting all corners of the room. Rush padded to the closest carvings, tracing his fingers over the symbol. There had been a colonizing effort here eons ago. The settlers had lived in these caves while they were building their permanent homes. Some soul had decided to leave their mark on this wall, and Rush was grateful to them. If the Ancients had been here, perhaps they'd left something behind for him to return to Destiny...

The kino they sent out had only seen a thick jungle of trees and green stuff. It had picked up that under the forest there was a confusing blend of high mountains covered in trees and moss, waterfalls feeding into rivers and lakes, caverns and caves, and brightly colored birds and slow-moving four-legged creatures the crew had been eager to drag back for real meat for a change.

Rush had gone along because they had passed a stone nearly covered in moss that featured a prominent Ancient symbol, one that said "left" and indicated it was a marker. If the Ancients had left directional markers, like a signpost, that must mean they'd left something to find. Sadly, they'd only been gone about thirty minutes, the party split between Rush, Scott, and some others while Greer, Park, and the rest were dragging back plant samples, safe fruits to eat, and two or three chicken-looking creatures and one creature that looked like a pig but was twice the size.

Actually, a soldier Rush couldn't recall the name of to save his life, who, apparently, had been raised on a pig farm in Georgia insisted that it was actually a bit _smaller_ than a real pig, green skin and wobbly snout aside. The thing had needed almost four people to carry it off. And it was smaller than a pig? Fuck.

Rush had never gotten more information, as that was when the dragon made itself known.

Aside from Tolkein's Smaug and a handful of inescapable media representations, Rush had never paid much attention to dragons, or fantasy. His world was rooted in fact and theory. The being said there was nothing else to call that monstrous beast but a dragon. A fuck-off huge fire-breathing red dragon that burst out of a cave they had been about to explore and chased them all the way back to the gate.

One blast of fire before the trees covered them from an airstrike had scattered them. Rush had lagged behind. By the time he'd caught up to the gate, he was five steps from being torched by the dragon's sudden assault on the active gate, and the rippling blue pool had fizzled out of existence as Rush ran back for cover.

The dragon hadn't paid him any mind after that. It looked around, but not very closely. Its hearing must not be superior because Rush's heart was pounding in his ears loud enough to be heard from space, he was sure. Then it took off, and Rush stayed right where he was hiding behind a singed tree, his legs too weak to stand. He could see that the gate was glowing bright red with heat, see how the air shimmered around it. The metal sagged in places, softened if not outright melting, and Rush could feel his heart sinking.

By the time he screwed the courage up to stand and go investigate the damage, a second dragon appeared out of nowhere. This one was maybe half the size of the first, perhaps ten feet tall, a rather dainty creature really. If Rush hadn't been standing right there stranded on an alien world, he might even call it _cute_.

It had light, shiny copper scales with the faintest sheen of blue-green to them, a smooth pointed tail and a graceful neck, topped by a soft, rounded head with a triangle of overlapping scales at the...at the nape of the head, he supposed, that tappered into a small point at the back of the head. The wings a peculiar mix of strong and delicate were neatly folded against her back, with rosy webbing that matched the scales along her underbelly. The eyes were large and soft, a dazzling shade of blue...that locked right on him when he snapped a twig underfoot.

He'd panicked and fled, no other thought in his mind but _run, run, run!_   when it finally caught him by the back of his waistcoat, and hoisted him in the air like a kitten scruffed.

Things got a bit blurry and hysterical after that...the fuck-off huge dragon returned with a smaller, fat dragon that had the looks of a stooge about it, and then the dragon that had Rush bolted into the air and he...fainted.

It was funny though. He was sure he heard someone talking to him while he was fleeing...

But how could a dragon know English?

_"Oh. You're awake already."_

Rush whirled around to find the cute, less threatening dragon sitting there in the doorway on its haunches. It tilted its head, eyes a brighter blue than even the luminescent mushrooms overhead, and if Rush's eyes weren't playing tricks on him, it fucking smiled.

 _"Please don't be afraid,"_   it said in a soft, sweet feminine voice. _"I won't hurt you. I understand that some of the Others are afraid of my kind, but I mean you no harm. I just wanted to protect you from Gaston and ask you something."_

The mouth wasn't moving on...her, yes, on her face. Rush could hear her talking plain as day, but her mouth wasn't moving. Telepathy then, he thought, his stomach squirming unpleasantly.

 _"I'm sorry, this is just how N'desckperoga communicate. Um,"_ she sat up then, shifting around from foot to foot. Side to side? Paw to paw? What was the term for a dragon's feet? The fuck was a Nadesperogo or whatever she'd just said? _"I promise I'm not digging deeply, just on the surface so we can understand each other. Oh. Please say something, have I hurt you while I was escaping?"_

"Uh...wh-who are you?" Rush blinked, taking a step back. Slowly.

 _"Oh! Oh, how thoughtless of me. My name is Belle, how do you do?"_  she said, bowing her head politely.

"I, uh, Rush. How...do you do?"

_"Quite well, thank you. Are you well? You seemd to have fainted by the time I got you back here. I'm sorry about the ride, but-"_

"Ah, yeah, about that...why does the one dragon want to kill me, actually two, but you...don't?"

Belle definitely rolled her eyes at that. Rush didn't need to know much else to know an annoyed female when he saw one.

_"That was Gaston the Red Hunter. The title is a bit notorious, but he wears it like an honor. He's a sociopath really. He likes to hunt the Others, says they're insects to our kind but clever enough to be a good challenge. Or some rot like that. He doesn't realize the damage he's doing to us by making the Others fear us, or maybe he doesn't care..."_

"Ah." Rush nodded. Sounded like Young on a bad day... "I see. So...what is your story then?"

Belle rumbled. _"I'm not sure what my story is, that's an interesting phrase. I suppose that I'm curious. I thought that if you were an offworlder, and if you had come from the ring, that you might know what the writings mean."_

"The writings...?"

 _"Yes,"_   Belle padded inside, putting a foot/paw on the wall by a carving. _"These. Weren't you reading them just now?"_

"Oh. Well yes. This is Ancient."

 _"I know how_ old _it is, I want to know what it says."_

Rush rolled his eyes. "That's what it's called: Ancient. That's the name of the language, writing, people. That particular carving says that they left a settlement here, thousands of years ago."

Belle tilted her head, humming. _"Ohhh. That's fascinating. Did they leave the Others here, then?"_

"What are these Others you keep mentioning?"

 _"Well, um...they are...they are not us. Others. They speak, they live in family groups, they wear clothes and live in houses clustered in colonies together. They are the Others,"_  Belle suddenly moved towards him, and Rush fought down a wave of panic as she leaned her face close enough that he was almost half her size. The tip of her round nose bumped his chest, so gentle it was more a light tap than a bump. _"They look something like you. They are small, and soft. They have skin instead of scales, grow hair on their heads and some on their faces, like you, they have five toes to a foot and five fingers to a hand. What do you call yourself?"_

"Um...I call my species human," Rush swallowed. Her breath was hot, a soft breeze warming his skin. "What-What did you call yours?"

_"N'desckperoga."_

"N-Nuhdeskpr-N'desckperoga?"

_"Correct. And you are a, um, a hyoo-min."_

"Yes..." Rush cautiously placed a hand on Belle's snout as he stepped back, mindful of her nostrils. The scales under his hand were a smooth, pebbly texture, not unpleasant to the touch at all. "Um...I-I need to go back. I need to get back to my ship. How far away is the gate?"

_"The ring Gaston ruined?"_

" _Ruined_?" Rush squawked. "Y'mean to tell me that stargate as stood there for thousands years, if not longer, and one bully-boy of a dragon ruined it in a fucking show of dominance?"

_"Um...I suppose so. You can go look if it pleases you, I can take you back."_

The thought of flying made Rush's stomach do handsprings, but he shoved it aside. He had to get back to Destiny. Now if not sooner.

"Please do."

Belle trotted out the room, then. _"Follow me, please,"_   she beckoned, and Rush followed. The winding tunnel seemed to be on an incline from here. There were a few other chambers, but Belle didn't stop in any of them. She had to nudge a large stone slab aside from what Rush had thought was a rock wall, revealing a black hole that was barren of glowing mushrooms.

Then, Belle laid down on her belly, fanning her wings out.

 _"Climb on my back,"_   she said. _"It'll be easier here."_

"Um...okay...where?" Rush had never ridden a dragon before, or a horse, or even a bicycle. This 'climb on and ride' concept was foreign to him.

Belle lifted her head, pointing it back to the base of her neck. _"You can sit there, I've heard it's most comfortable."_

As she said it, Rush thought he could see the spot she meant. At the juncture of her neck and shoulders, was an ideal place to sit. There was a small ridge of scales along Belle's back, right along her spine and up the veterbrae in her neck, that made a good handhold to hoist himself up, and after an undignified bit of wriggling, Rush had himself seated there. He had a leg over each shoulder, straddling the base of her neck. It was awkward, he had pressure in places he didn't necessarily want it, especially when Belle got up and started moving, tugging the stone shut over her secret bolt hole and trotting up another incline.

Suddenly Rush understood the jokes about girls and horseback riding, but thankfully his cock behaved itself. That would've been humiliating, getting a hard on from riding on a space dragon's back.

And it helped that any accidental erection would have been killed on sight by the view at the top of the tunnel.

A sheer drop from thin air, a ridge maybe three feet wide the only platform outside the cave, wind howling in Rush's ears as he took an ill-advised look down. Math failed Rush. He couldn't even fathom the distance from here to the ground other than a fucking long one. It was a plunging drop into a ravine, a river sluggishly flowing at the bottom like a slender white-blue ribbon, fed from a waterfall that looked the the flow from a kitchen faucet from here, so high up that Rush could even see the river that fed the fucking waterfall itself.

"Here we go!" Belle announced cheerfully, and Rush wrapped his arms around her thick neck and squeezed his legs tight as she leapt, leaving his stomach behind.

"HOLY SHIT!"

* * *

Belle loved flying. She loved to go as fast as she could, she loved to drop down over the ocean and plunge into the water, she loved to fly so high that she could soar through the clouds, and then barrel roll so that the droplets flew off her scales like shimmering diamonds.

Poor Rush didn't like flying as much, though.

He didn't faint this time. But he clung to Belle's neck and screamed when they took off, and wasn't at all talkative while they were in the air. Belle tried to go slow and keep steady for his sake, but she felt his emotions boiling in a panic even after she touched down on solid ground again.

And even then...

_"Rush, you can open your eyes."_

"Not until we're on the ground!" He snapped, squeezing his legs tight. It felt quite pleasant, his clinging, but Belle didn't want him to die of fright.

 _"We are on the ground. It's okay,"_   she soothed, laying down so he was closer still. _"You can let go now, it's alright, see?"_

There was a thump, and the light pressure around her neck and shoulders gave way.

Belle turned to find Rush laying sprawled on his back on the ground, gasping for air like he'd been drowning. Belle had seldom walked back to her cave, but she wondered if it might be easier to use the underground entrance to spare him another flight. Some Others didn't take to heights after all, perhaps humans were similar.

 _"Are you okay?"_   she asked, leaning over him. She gave him a sniff, butting his side with her snout. He needed a bath, he smelled very strong and musty, but not entirely unpleasant. She gave him another sniff, and by then he was squirming away.

"I'm fine!" he snarled, wiggling out from under her nose. "I'm fine!"

 _"Well I'm glad,"_  Belle smiled, hoping he was just snappish because he was embarrassed to be afraid. That wasn't an Other thing, that was just natural. _"Let's go study your ring."_

Rush stumbled to his feet, but got steadier as they went to the ring. Gate. Yes, it was a gate, she recalled Rush saying as much. He must be quite learned about these things, he seemed to know exactly where to look for damage. The metal was still too hot to touch, still steaming even if the glow had faded, and Belle knew as soon as Rush began to scowl that the results were negative.

She also gathered that this "fuck" word he kept using was a swear. And that Rush swore a lot.

Rush kicked the ring and snapped, regardless of how the toe of his boot steamed now. "The whole fucking system is fried! Fucking hell, if that great fucking bastard had been looking to sabatoge this gate he couldnae have done a worse fucking job to it! I can't fix this! I can't fucking fix this! Thousands of years standing against the elements, and one fucking sicko ruins-FUCK!"

He kicked the ring again, and Belle gently mouthed the back of his vest, tugging him away.

_"Stop that, you'll hurt yourself."_

"Put me down!" he snarled, kicking and thrashing.

_"Not if you're going to hurt yourself."_

"What the fuck does it matter?! I'm trapped on Dragon Planet with a fuck-off huge one that hunts people for fun, my ship's going to go into warp without me in three days time because I _can't_   leave-"

Belle had heard of hysteria, but she'd never seen it before. She didn't know what else to call this, but decided that letting Rush scream himself out might help. She retreated from his mind, letting him have some privacy. His emotions were on a wide-ranging scale. Anger, outrage, grief, disappointment, but mostly...fear. He was afraid. Terrified even. Belle took a moment to wonder how she would react to being stuck on another planet, where the only creatures she'd seen were bigger than her, stronger and more dangerous than her, and thought fear was a very natural reaction.

After a time, Rush stopped thrashing so strongly and Belle gently linked back to his mind. The fear was still there. And the grief, and some anger smouldering away in a dark part of his mind she left alone. If he were a N'desckperoga, Belle would nuzzle and curl around him, but she wasn't sure how to comfort a human. The Others seemed to like touch too, when they felt lonely, but Belle didn't want to frighten Rush more.

"What the hell am I going to do?" he muttered, scrubbing his hands over his furry face.

Belle sat down, folding her forelegs over each other. She watched Rush pace for a bit, waiting to see if he was going to talk to himself more.

 _"You could come back to my lair,"_  she offered. _"If they left all those carvings on the walls, maybe they left something useful written down?"_

Rush sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I suppose so..." he turned an interesting color then, glancing up at the sky. "Do we have to...uh...?" He waggled his hands like flapping wings.

Belle giggled, shaking her head. _"I have another entrance...how long can you hold your breathe?"_

Rush turned a different color, then. "Underwater?"

_"Yes. I don't think...is that okay?"_

"Um...I..." he ran his pink tongue over his lips nervously, then shook his head. "I'll fly...I mean ride, I mean-Not underwater please."

There was a story there, but Belle didn't know what. She lowered herself down so he could climb on again, and tried to take off as smoothly as possible. Rush still held on tight, but he didn't seem as terrified. Maybe.

She set him up in the empty chamber with the carvings on the walls. Not that Belle had visitors, mind you, but she supposed that made it the guest room. She had shown him the larder in case he was hungry, the... _privy_ , and down to the pool of water that spilled over from her underwater exit. It was her bathing chamber, and she hoped Rush picked up on the hint.

Belle kept a small library, packed away in trunks. Most N'desckperoga loved shiny treasures, gold and silver and gemstones. Belle preferred the written word, and often traded whatever shinies she found for books and scrolls and tablets. She was certainly guilty of staying up all night to finish a good story, but she wasn't sure Rush was enjoying himself at all when he spent the whole night wide awake and moving from carving to carving with this little rectangular book he kept scribbling notations in, scowling.

The next morning, Belle mouthed the back of his vest until she had him up off his feet and pulled him away from the carvings.

"Hey! Put me down, Belle!"

_"You need to take a break. And a bath."_

"Let me go! I have work to do!"

_"The carvings won't move, they'll be waiting for you when you get back. Looking at them with fresh eyes might do you some good, too."_

"Belle!"

By then, they were in the chamber. Belle's underwater exit was a larger subterranean cavern underneath this chamber, part of a flooded tunnel system. The water line fluctuated depending on the season. It was a bit fuller than usually because of the rainy season that ended a few weeks ago, and the water sparkled with the pale whitish-blue moss glowning on the walls. It was perfectly save, save the odd fish that got turned about, and Rush had dropped his book along the way so she had no qualms just dropping him right in the water, where it came up to his waist so he just had to stand up to prevent a drowning.

Rush spluttered, jumping to his feet. His hair was plastered to his skull, making his head look tiny, and Belle giggled at the sight. He just glared at her, putting his hands on his hips.

"I suppose you think this is funny."

_"A little bit."_

"Hmph. Fine. The show's over now, I'm going back to work."

_"Oh come on, you've hardly washed!"_

"Well I'm hardly going to bathe with you _staring_   at me like that!"

 _"Oh? Then how 'bout like this?"_  Belle grinned, her body rippling and shrinking, scales growing into feathers, until she'd turned into a pretty white bird and perched on Rush's shoulder. She gave his ear a light peck to get his attention, and he gawked at her.

"H-how did you-How did you do that?" he stammered.

_"Change, you mean?"_

"Aye! What else?"

Belle looked down at her white feathers and small dark feet. _"Oh. It's my Blessing. Some N'desckperoga breathe fire, some spit acid, some control the clouds, I change shape. Don't those dragons you mentioned do things like this?"_

"Uh...I don't...I've never thought about it..." Rush blinked. He'd forgone his glasses today. Belle wondered if he could see her clearly. "That's...interesting."

_"It's very interesting. If I go to a town dressed like an Other, I can learn all sorts of things. That's how I get some of my very best books, you know."_

"Oh...how do you...I mean," Rush raked his hair back out of his eyes, revealing these little strips of gray by his temples. "What does that look like?"

Belle hopped off his shoulder, focusing on the usual shape she took as an Other. She was still smaller than most, but it took too much concentration to make herself tall. Her hair was a bit darker than her scales, less copper and more auburn, the body pale and soft, and her mouth and the peaks of the small mounds of flesh on her chest rosy. Belle hadn't been very good at including clothes in her changes to an Other, so she had a trunk of costumes in one chamber, but she thought that this shape was a very pretty one, even if it was small.

Rush's staring made her feel very conscious, though. It _was_   small. Small and a bit thick, in places, and maybe he didn't find it as pretty as Belle did.

Oh, humans were very funny about nudity. Maybe he didn't like her standing here without clothes on.

Belle shifted back into a bird and fluttered back to shore, shaking out her feathers before changing back into her real body. "That's how I look. Um, I should find you some dry clothes. I'll leave them outside the entrance, if you'd rather."

Rush blinked. "Um...yes. Do that. Thank you."

 _"Oh! You're very welcome!"_   Belle smiled, padding away to give him his privacy. Perhaps the awkwardness had passed after all...how fortunate. She rather liked Rush, she didn't want to drive him away with her oddness.

* * *

Rush left his old clothes hanging up on a line to dry. Belle had a small chamber, set up like a walk-in closet, for what he assumed were costumes when she went on her field trips as a person.

His cock gave an embarrassing twitch at the memory of her little display, and he glared down at his new trousers.

Belle made a stunning woman. Silky reddish-brown curls, plush pink lips, startling blue eyes and so much pale, perfect skin glowing under that white moss that Rush didn't know where to look first, and could not look away from any of it. God. He was a terrible person. She had just shown him her...her Blessing, as she called it, with no ill intention, and he'd been...fascinated. She just wanted to help him get home, and he had been ogling her bare breasts.

Were they even her breasts though? If it was an illusion, then...how did that even work?

_Ugh..._

Rush did was he usually did when he had something he didn't want to think about needling him: He brushed it aside and went back to work.

And it worked admirable until a few hours later, when Belle found him kneeling down by a low carving he deduced had been left by someone very young, perhaps a child, judging from the poor grammar composition and the scratched out letters. It was peculiar to think of the Ancients as having children that had long since grown up and passed on, leaving descendants behind them.

He looked up and startled, finding Belle standing there in a blue dress brushing her calves, with sweet white cap sleeves and a neckline steep enough that he was reminded of what lovely breasts she had, real or not. He forced his eyes up to hers, and was surprised to see her mouth move as she spoke this time.

"Um, I forgot the Others aren't much for nudity, I'm sorry about earlier if I offended you..."

Rush cleared his throat, stalling a moment while he carefully closed his notebook. "Ah...it's quite alright, no harm done. Nice dress."

He cursed himself even when Belle's pretty face lit up at his accidental compliment, and she brushed her hands over her skirts. "Thank you! I think it's my favorite. I like blue."

"Like the sky?" Rush gathered that Belle was quite fond of the sky and flying through it. The way she smiled all the brighter made him think he got it right.

"Yes! Oh, dear, listen to me prattling on," she knelt down beside him, spreading out her skirts in a ladylike fashion. "What sort of progress are you making?"

"Ah...some..." Rush gathered that the settlers were supposed to start up a colony, an outpost of sorts that could become a space port someday. Obviously that either didn't happen or it fell into disrepair, he wasn't sure which yet. The carvings he found had become sporadic and a bit vague, obviously the settlers having moved out of the caves into real homes by then. There was a chance, though, that the could have left some tech or ships behind...

"Well, I was thinking, and wouldn't it be better if you had two sets of eyes looking instead of one?" Belle asked. "I'm quite good with written word, could you teach me a bit of this Ancient writing?"

It was a decent idea...and Belle proved to be a fast study. A very, very fast study. Rush didn't think he'd ever had a more willing and quick-witted student before, Belle had absorbed everything so quickly, actually, that by the end of the day she had the basics down pat.

At least...Rush thought it was day. It was a bit difficult to tell when there was no sunlight, but he was almost used to that after so many months aboard Destiny. If so, that was two days gone, and he only had one more left to find his way back to Destiny before it was out of range.

But he wasn't _getting_ anywhere. There just...was not enough information to go off of. Settlements failed, colonies died, history was lost. The terrain of this planet was thick jungles growing over mountains riddled with caves, natural and dug out by these N'desckperoga. And speaking of them...

Rush, as the alien here, didn't much question Belle's living situation. As an "Other", (a shape she assumed a bit frequently so she could access the trunks holding her library of books...) or in her normal body, Belle was a thoroughly charming person. If something struck her fancy, she could talk passionately about it for ages, and if she was curious about something, she wanted to know all about it. She was such a nice person, that Rush couldn't understand why she was living all alone.

She rarely left, and it made the fully stocked larder look a bit more suspicious...

He'd been sitting with his back to the wall, flipping through his notebook as he tried to piece the clues he had together. Belle came and sat beside him with a tray of cold sliced meat, a water jug, and some fruits that looked like plum-sized blue apples, and plucked the botebook from his hand in a clear suggestion to eat.

"What do you eat on your ship?" Belle asked, swiping an apple thing for herself.

One of the things that Belle was curious about was his living situation on Destiny. The concept of their being on the other side of the universe from home didn't perterb her, but he knew something about it did. She got this little crease between her brows when he spoke, and when he was describing how he essentially lived in front of the computer systems.

"Don't you have quarters of your own?"

"Well, yes...but I have a lot of work to do."

"Don't you ever make room for anything else, though? Friends? Sleep? You don't sleep very much here, though I know you're trying to get home here too, in a way..."

Belle was a perceptive sort. She mentioned she could read his emotions, but only brushed the outer limits of his mind for communication purposes. Sometimes it was irritating how she could zero in on a topic that Rush didn't want brought to the surface, and he chose to ignore her while examining an apple.

"I have a lot of work to do, and not a lot of faith in other people to do it. I know Destiny's systems better than anyone, I have to get back."

Belle hummed, propping her head up in her hand. "I wish I knew how to help. Maybe I could even go with you."

"Why would you want to leave your home?" Rush asked.

She shrugged. "It's not much of a home, just where I live. You know? I basically chose this place because it was so well hidden, I just...I had to get away from my father, and Gaston. I'm odd for a N'desckperoga, you know, I'm small and I ask too many questions, my head is in the clouds. Everyone I know says I should be _glad_   Gaston asked me to be his mate, but I don't want him. I'm odd for that, too."

Rush pressed his lips together. "This is the same bastard that hunts intelligent creatures for fun and torched the gate?"

"Yes."

"Good. Stick to that resolve."

Belle giggled. She was a giggly little thing, too. When she was in her real form it was a low rumble, not as sweet as this, but still...nice. "Thank you. I'm trying...but it was no coincidence that he was out there. I think he thinks if he keeps pestering me I'll just give in. That's...that's not-That's not okay, I shouldn't have to give in, not when I've said no. I'm allowed to choose whoever I want as a lifemate, and who I don't want as well. So...so this isn't much of a home, see, it just...it's better this way."

She put on a smile that wasn't as bright as before, then. "Plus, I want to learn more about these Ancients," she said, sitting up, and Rush let her deflect. "You said your ship is thousands of years old?"

"Aye. It's a trusty old rust bucket though...even if things are always seemingly breaking apart."

"I met a sailor once, I think that's just normal aboard a ship. Why do they call it a ship if it's in the sky? How does it sail?"

Rush took a bite out of the apple. It was very juicy, bright green on the inside, sweet and tart and quite tasty. The juice stuck in his beard, and he'd have to see about finding a razor or a suitable substitute. "It...well, it propels itself with..." _how to explain this..._ "Have you ever seen a spaceship take off before?"

"Once or twice. They're quite loud, I don't like being close to them."

Rush reached for his notebook and scribbled out a crude approximation of Destiny. "Space," he said, leaning on his elbow near Belle so she could see the diagram. "Is a vacuum. There's no atmosphere, no air, no clouds, no weather, no gravity. It's a void. To move, a ship uses thrust, this force that keeps it going forwards. The thrust on Destiny comes from the engines, and they run on...well it's sort of like it runs on the energy of the sun."

Belle bit her lip. "There's more suns? So...there are other planets, suns, stars, moons, people...that's _amazing_. And you're from the other side of the universe entirely?"

Rush nodded. "I am."

"So...so as you go through space, you must have one of these gates on your ship. And that's what you're trying to get through, to get back?"

"Yes."

Belle looked over her shoulder at one of the carvings. That one was a bit confusing, not quite coordinates, more like directions given by landmarks. It didn't say what it led to, either, and Rush had left it be for now.

"I think I have an idea," she said, sitting up on her knees. "Does that second line mean 'flower bowl', by any chance?"

It was that nonsense there that was why Rush had been ignoring it, but he nodded. "Flower bowl, flower valley, something like that, aye, what about it?"

"I'm going to take a look at something," Belle gave a sharp nod of decision, standing up and shaking out her skirts. "I'll be back soon."

"Wait." Rush caught her wrist. "What was all that you were saying about that Gaston and hiding here, isn't it dangerous for you to go alone?"

Belle paused, giving him an odd look. Then she smiled, patting his cheek affectionately. "I'll be fine. I fit in anywhere, remember?"

Her smile rippled and suddenly a snowy white bird fluttered out of Belle's dress as it dropped, and flew away out the room. Rush was left behind with a tray of food and a dress, wondering if she was going to be as okay as she insisted she was.

That dragon-girl grew on you.

Rush finished off his meal, feeling it would be churlish to leave it uneaten. Then he sat with his notebook and tried to piece some of the clues he did have together. After the first few carvings, the rest seemed to be graffiti. Rude things written on the wall, childish declarations, what was possibly the oldest "your mum" joke in history. None of that was useful, but some of the other writings were. A date was written down here, someone proudly carved where they'd come from, some more children had been allowed to scratch things in the wall...

If Rush ever did get back to Destiny, he was going to punch the first person to say the word "puzzle" or "mystery" around him.

After a few hours, and no sign of Belle coming back, Rush decided to take a bath. Or go for a swim, something to distract him.

He also found a small knife, and decided to try his hand at shaving his thick silvery scruff some. He almost cut his cheek, and did knick under his chin, but he thought his reflection in the water looked a bit better. Save the bloody spot on his chin there...he'd stay out the water. Belle said that the only thing to come up in this pool were fish, but he'd already met a space dragon, he wasn't crossing paths with a space shark as well,

At least that's what he was thinking when something burst out the water, soaking him from head to toe in cold water. He flicked his dripping hair out of his eyes in time to see Belle jump at him, her soft human arms flinging around his shoulders as she laughed. "I found it!" she cheered, pressing his face against his neck. "I found it! There's a door under the moss and-"

"A door?"

"A door!"

"A door! That's great!" Rush laughed, his arms automatically wrapping around her slick waist. "That's- Wait, what was inside-"

"I don't know!" Belle cheered, then stopped and bit her lip. "I-I didn't look yet. I wanted to bring you back there first...oh, goodness, what happened to your face?"

Belle brought her fingers up to his chin, tracing the edges of his cut. She was almost eye-level with it, she was so wee, no wonder she spotted it right away. Rush leaned his head back for her, his eyes closing as her fingers trailed down his throat, along his collarbones...he'd taken his shirt off to shave, and was belatedly noticing that Belle didn't have a stitch on her, or more accurately, between them. She stepped back a bit, her eyes drinking in every bony angle and curve to his torso, and Rush was so glad he'd kept his fucking trousers.

He kept his eyes locked on her face, not so much out of gentlemanly concern this time but more in fear. He was no prize. He was no prize in his prime. Malnutrition on Destiny, no sunlight, twenty extra years hadn't improved upon anything-

"You're so pretty."

"Excuse me?" Rush blinked.

Belle nibbled on her lower lip again, her fingertips smoothing down his chest, curving around to trace his back. "You're so pretty," she said again. "What's this?"

She was looking right at the scar he had from where his chest had been cracked open to remove a tracker implanted the last time he'd been stranded on an alien world, and Rush's stomach tightened. He had to get off this planet. Bad things happened when he was away from Destiny out here in a foreign galaxy, ages from home, he'd been marooned, tortured, had days he could feel his sanity slipping with stress bearing down on him, tortured _again_...Belle was such a lovely soul, and he had a nasty habit of losing those people that didn't treat him like shit, too.

"It's a scar."

"Does it hurt?" Belle asked, nuzzling the tip with her nose. Rush still had his arms around her. It would be so easy to hold her closer, to hold on tight and loose himself in how small and soft and sweet Belle was, how big her heart was. But that would be horrible and selfish, too. He barely knew her. And she was so innocent, it would be taking advantage, too.

"No," he said, taking a step back. Her hands fell away from his waist. "It's fine. Let me get dressed and we'll go."

Belle nodded, looking down at herself sheepishly and folding her arms over her breasts. "Oh. Right...uh, take your time, I want to go pack some things."

Rush paused where he'd bent over to get his shirts. They were soaked, but that was fine. If he was going home, who'd care? "Pack?"

"I want to go with you, I thought we talked about it."

"Well we did, but I didn't think-" Rush paused, thinking for a moment. Belle was holed up in a cave, with two entrances, because she was hiding from a big brute and considered freakish for not wanting his affections. She really didn't have much going for her here. "If you want. Just remember there's no guarantee we'll find anything, don't get your hopes up."

Belle nodded turning to walk off. If his eyes dropped automatically to her curvy little bottom before he looked away, that was his affair...hopefully she didn't notice him staring too much. "Of course. Thank you. I won't be long, we'll go out the cliff side entrance, okay?"

Oh right...more flying.

"Yeah...sure..."

It would be worth it if he could just get back to Destiny.

* * *

Belle really had to do better about this clothes thing. While she was tucking three (then five, because she was weak,) of her favorite books into a basket, she tried practicing changing shape into an Other that had some sort of coverings. It was hard because she needed it to connect to her body, like fur or feathers on animals did, so the pretty skirts she liked most wouldn't work.

So, she tried something else, and even though she'd stuffed two dresses and handful of jewelry she'd always been fond of into her basket, Belle thought it was a fine attempt.

She'd tested it out by walking all the way tot he top of the tunnel in her new shape, to meet Rush. He had seemed sheepish of being caught shirtless, and Belle recalled most female Others didn't walk around without something covering their...their _breasts_ , that's what soft mounds of flesh were, ah. Though to be fair, she didn't think Rush had anything to be embarrassed about, he was very pretty.

His hair was soft, his shoulders were small and firm under her hands, his skin was warm. He was a bit underfed-looking, yes, but Belle suspected it was because he skipped meals. The chest of him was smooth, but he had a fine trail of hair on his belly, thickening as it disappeared under his trousers, and Belle very badly wanted to touch it. She knew males had a bit of something _extra_ there, she thought she'd felt it against her belly when she hugged him, but those thoughts were highly inappropriate. Like staring at the curve of his bum when he was reaching for his shirts.

Friends should not ogle friends...

She would be lying if she didn't feel better about her attempt at changing shape with included clothes, though, when Rush did a bit of a double take.

"New outfit...?" he asked, his eyes tracing over her curiously.

"Yes, um, well this one should stay with me when I change shapes. So I'm always, y'know, _decent_ ," she looked down sheepishly at her bare feet. She had on a blue shirt like his green one, short-sleeved and tucked into the top of her deep blue trousers, but nothing on her feet. That was probably fine. She liked her toes. "Does it look okay?"

"It looks very...decent, yes. Ah, shall we?" he nodded at the rock blocking the entrance. "If you get the door, I'll get your bag there."

"Oh, thank you," Belle smiled, passing him the basket and nudging him to step back.

She reverted to her normal shape and shoved the rock aside. Rush climbed up on her shoulders, clutching the handle of the basket tightly, and Belle closed up the entrance before padding up the tunnel to the top. She heard Rush hiss, and sensed some peculiar blend of emotion she was unfamiliar with.

_"Are you okay?"_

"I-I'm fine," he cleared his throat, and she felt his weight shifting. "Fine. Come on, we're running out of time."

Ah. Yes, he'd said he only had three days before his ship left. _"Do you mind if I go faster to get there?"_

The tangle of emotions definitely spiked with fear, then. "I...yes. Go as fast as you can, I'll be fine."

 _"Okay...but hold on tight,"_ she cautioned, reaching the outer ledge and bracing for the jump. _"It's a bit of a ride getting there."_

"I'll be okay, just g-WHOA!"

Poor dear...

Belle tried to fly in a straight, smooth line, but the day was windy and she felt Rush holding on for dear life. Maybe it was for the best that she was trying to go fast, she didn't think Rush was meant to be up in the air. It wouldn't be too long before they came upon the little valley though, and the view was worth a little fright, surely.

There was a spot that Belle had always dearly loved to visit in the spring. This valley was more of a canyon, really, with steep rocky walls, and a teardrop shaped flatland at the bottom where grass grew most of the year, but for one month, it was bursting with color, bright blooms in all shades of rich purple, royal blues, deep magenta and the odd spot of pale yellow and pink. From the air it looked absolutely stunning, and the heady sweet scent carried for a mile at least.

There was a spot on the wall, half-covered by moss and worn through time, that Belle realized today was a door carved in the rock. She wasn't sure how to open it, but surely that's what Rush was looking for.

Or would look for, once they were on solid ground...although she did feel his grip starting to relax over time. He'd sort of lain on her neck, his arms wrapped around her there, probably so he felt more secure. Belle didn't mind. It felt comfortable, his slight weight bearing on her shoulders. She brushed her mind against his and felt his calm, and felt pleased that he wasn't as afraid now. Even without wings, who couldn't love soaring through the sky?

Suddenly she felt fear again, and Rush gripped her tightly as the valley came into view.

"Belle! Belle look up!"

She did.

She wished she hadn't...

Gaston was dropping down out of the sky, cruel glee in his eyes as his jaws opened up and he spit fire out at them. Belle sent an apology to poor Rush as she veered out the way, and then plummetted towards the ground.

"Pull up! Pull up!" Rush screamed. "Belle we're going to crash!"

 _"You get to the door, it's right over there on the wall,"_  Belle said, snapping her wings out at the last second and gliding safely to the ground. _"I'll take care of him."_

Rush fell off to the ground. He still had her basket, his glasses were askew, hair ruffled. And his mouth was gaping open as he looked up at Gaston circling.

"Are you fucking mad?! He's-"

 _"He's my problem, I'll take care of it,"_ Belle nudged him towards the mossy door. _"Go on."_

Rush looked like he wanted to argue more, and that was sweet and heroic in a way, but also quite unhelpful. Belle shot off into the air, aiming straight for Gaston. She twisted and slapped her wing against his, throwing him off balance so that the bolt of fire he had aimed at Rush went wide. A patch of the beautiful flower field turned black and dead, and Belle mourned the loss even as Gaston whipped around and roared at her.

_"You bitch! How dare you-You're going to pay for that!"_

_"You'd have to catch me first!"_ Belle snapped, darting into the sky. If she could just distract him for a little bit, if his wounded pride could just trump his irrational cruelty for Others....

 _"I WILL!"_   Gaston bellowed, and they left the valley behind as Belle led him on a merry chase.

* * *

Rush had sat staring in horror as the red beast, that Gaston fellow, took off after Belle. But there was nothing he could do, no logical way he could help. He was just over half Belle's height, a mere mouse compared to the other N'desckperoga, and he couldn't even fly. And he burned as easily as those flowers did...

There was nothing else to do but go and open the damned door.

The mechanism turned out to be a small button on the door, one he had to scrape the moss off of. It opened with the scrape of dry stone, easily enough, stale air wafting out over Rush. He snatched up Belle's basket and shot through the door, squinting in the dark. The sunlight from the door seemed bright enough to just barely see by...and Rush stopped short at what he saw.

A second gate.

It was smaller than usual, and Rush had never quite seen a room like this before either. Aside from the door leading outside, there was a short hall and another door. A base of some sort, perhaps military. This could have been an emergency exit, for evacuation off-planet, or simply out the base if that door was there...who knew? For once, Rush didn't even quite care about finding out, either.

Destiny had between two and eight hours left in range, if his calculations weren't wrong. But maybe less time...so Rush fumbled around on the few consoles in the dim room and chanced on the right button that had the screens light up. Text ran across the screens and Rush punched buttons madly, holding his breath until the gate suddenly flickered to life. It _worked_.

The basket sitting by his feet, though, reminded him of something.

 _Someone_.

He left the basket sitting by the active gate and ran back outside, searching the skies for any sign of Belle. Or that bastard stalker of hers...

He could make out a large red shape speeding throught he sky, but didn't see-There, a flock of birds. They flew just ahead of Gaston, just barely, and Rush felt his stomach drop when a fireball ripped through the sky, cutting through the flock. A half-dozen birds that had become fried chicken dropped to the ground, but there were some still flying...and one of them was making a bee-line to Rush.

Belle crashed into the flowers with a squawk, and Rush dashed forwards. She'd changed from a bird to a person again, one broken flower somehow tangled up in her curly hair, half her face look sunburned, and when she stumbled to her feet she nearly fell down again, but she wasn't dead, and that was _beautiful_.

Somehow she'd even changed into her clothed shape instead, but Rush didn't particular care, not with Gaston roaring over head and rearing back to torch the whole field around their ears.

He grabbed Belle's hand and she held on tight. "Come on! I got the gate!"

"You found a gate? In there?"

"I cannot explain it and I'm not questioning it!"

"Good, let's go!" Belle gave him a push. "Gaston is kinda furious now!"

That seemed a chronic understatement. Rush saw light, felt heat, and he ran with Belle through the door. A wall of fire followed behind them, and Belle yanked him to the floor away from the door. The fire was so close he could feel his boots got uncomfortable warm, his feet being the closest to the flames. For a moment the room was lit by yellow, burning light, and the gate looked obscenely calm, a field of rippling blue light. Then someone, he didn't care since they were wearing a soldier's uniform from Destiny, stepped through, armed, and looked surprised to see fire and Rush and Belle.

"What the hell is going on?" Greer's voice asked, and Rush had never been so glad to hear the sergeant before in his life.

"Just a bit of a tantrum," Belle said with a weak giggle, scurrying to her feet. "Hi!"

"Who the hell are you?" Greer blinked.

Rush rolled his eyes, cupping Belle's elbow as they hurried to the gate. "Greer, Belle, Belle, Greer."

"How do you do? May I have my basket?"

Greer dumbly picked up the basket he'd almost stepped on, and handed it to Belle. She gave him one of her sunny smiles and said, "Thank you!" That seemed to confuse Greer all the more, and Rush thought Destiny was about to become an all the more interesting place...

A bellowing roar from outside had Greer hoisting up his gun. "What is that?"

"A N'desckperoga, Sergeant," Rush said, leading Belle to the gate. "I suggest we leave. That's a particularly stubborn one."

"Why is it every time you get stuck off the ship, you come back with all kinds of weird shit going on?" Greer huffed, taking up the rear as they filed through the gate.

* * *

Everyone who could work on the gate had been working on it. They'd thought everyone had gotten through the gate, when the fire came through after them, leaving scorch marks on the ramp and the inner rim of the ring. Eli had no idea what had happened, really, except everyone agreed that it was a big red dragon.

And speaking of dragons...where was Rush?

Uh-oh.

For one thing, there was some damage to the gate. The gate was their only way on and off the ship, that had to be repaired. But when they thought they had it working again, they just couldn't connect to the gate they'd left behind. It had been Brody that suggested that the ring on the other side had been damaged, which...well, which they couldn't really fix. Rush could maybe, but even on his worst days, Eli didn't think he was much of a match for a dragon.

Rush was crucial to getting them home. Yeah, Eli was supposed to be this boy-genius or whatever, but he didn't have Rush's experience. And Rush always had some secret he'd unlocked about Destiny tucked up his sleeve, and on top of all that, they couldn't just leave him.

Even Young, (who everybody was pretty sure would be happy leaving Rush on a planet if given the chance,) seemed a little iffy about it. But when time was running out, the clock reading ten minutes left, he seemed ready to give up. And that was when the gate suddenly flickered on. And it stayed on without anyone passing through.

Greer grabbed a gun and Young told him to go look. Just look. Be careful. Sound advice, and everyone in the room waited on edge as he walked through...

And in another minute, a very long minute, two people came through, and Greer was behind them.

Rush was back, looking not much worse for wear. He'd shaved at some point, his thick silver whiskers trimmed down to a thin layer of pale stubble. But the biggest change worth noticing was that he held the arm of this short barefoot girl, dressed in a blue t-shirt and jeans, carrying a basket and looking around with wide, excited eyes. And Rush _smiled_ at her when she _grinned_ at him.

Okay, what the heck happened on that planet?

**Author's Note:**

> 10,000+ words, and all they wanted to do was talk and be nerds. -_-' I have a slightly smuttier follow-up planned, but the deadline is here, and I think this is a pretty good place to end this story...*smacks head against desk*


End file.
